SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian airline Azul on Monday reported fourth-quarter core earnings barely above market expectations and mentioned it was optimistic about this 12 months, after a difficult 2024 marked by a serious debt restructuring.
The service’s earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached 1.95 billion reais ($340.31 million) within the October-December interval, it mentioned, up 33% year-on-year, helped by larger passenger visitors and cargo issue.
Analysts polled by LSEG anticipated EBITDA to return in at 1.91 billion reais within the quarter.
“The mixture of a weakening Brazilian actual, the floods in Rio Grande do Sul state, important OEM (authentic gear producers) and provide chain points, and higher-than-expected gas costs made for a really difficult 12 months,” CEO John Rodgerson mentioned in an announcement.
Full-year EBITDA reached 6.07 billion reais, according to Azul’s beforehand launched outlook of greater than 6 billion reais.
Internet income rose 10.2% within the fourth quarter to five.54 billion reais, whereas analysts anticipated 5.62 billion reais.
Azul just lately concluded a serious restructuring that included the termination of just about $1.6 billion in debt from its stability sheet, whereas it additionally raised $525 million in recent cash.
The corporate is now eyeing a possible enterprise mixture with rival Gol that will create a dominant service in Latin America’s No. 1 financial system, holding roughly 60% of the home market.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Modifying by Louise Heavens and David Evans)